Gappa, the Triphibian Monster (1967) on Netflix

PG19671h 24mAction Adventure Comedy

Hiroshi and Itoko join an expedition to Obelisk Island, which Mr. Funazu, who owns Playmate Magazine, wants to develop as a resort. A giant egg in a forbidden cavern hatches.

Netflix2.2/5
IMDb4.4/101,920 votes
Rotten TomatoesNot available

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Plot summary

The people of Obelisk Island worship a deity they call Gappa. Mr. Funazu, who owns Playmate Magazine, wants to build a resort on the island, so an expedition from Tokyo arrives. The islanders welcome the visitors. Two members, Hiroshi and Itoko, disregard a warning from the boy Saki and enter a forbidden area, where a fallen statue blocks a cavern holding a giant egg. A baby bird-lizard hatches from it. The islanders plead with the scientists not to carry the young creature away, warning that its parents will be angered. The hatchling is taken to Japan anyway, where it becomes a media attraction.

Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Gappa, the Triphibian Monster (1967)

Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.

Screenwriters Gen Yamazaki and Ryuzo Nakanishi said the film got about 500,000,000 yen (about $1.4 million) in government financing, ten times the average Nikkatsu budget. Producer Eisei Koi, who was classmates with politicians in the Diet, used his political power to get the money.
Shusuke Kaneko wanted to put Gappa in his 1985 live-action adaptation of Minna Agechau, but the suits were long lost; Gamera was the next candidate until Daiei declined, so rental monsters from a Gamera-related company were used instead. The film led Kaneko to Daiei and Tsuburaya, shaping his Heisei Gamera trilogy and Ultra Series work.
Mamoru Oshii's The Next Generation: Patlabor (2014-2015) has an episode, "Giant Monster Appears", as a tribute to classic kaiju productions especially Gappa; its embedded narrative "Giant Monster Appears in Atami" and its kappa-based kaiju and Atami setting are outright references, and Oshii and others called the character "Gappa".
Gappa and Shochiku's The X from Outer Space were produced and released simultaneously by different companies, both made by Japan Tokusatsu Production with Eiji Tsuburaya's teams; the two films shaped the First Kaiju Boom, which became the basis for the Second Kaiju Boom and the Yōkai/Kaiki Boom.